Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Welcome to Scolipede Guild!
by DracoShield234
Summary: When a young sneasel's life starts to spiral out of control, he ends up at Scolipede Guild and joins forces with a shinx named Lucky. But when he makes the mistake to take a mission way over their heads, they find that the only way to keep their dream alive and stop a psychotic killer is to finish what the started... before winter comes. (Cover image by Verona7881 on DeviantArt)
1. Chapter 1

Among the emerald green of Clearsky, a zoroark raced through the forest pathways. Behind her, a young sneasel followed. The two had been running for a solid half hour now, but while the zoroark felt like she could run for hours more, her son could not.

He could hardly breathe, each breath a struggle in it's own right, and they came out as a rapid-fire wheeze. His feet were sore from the non-stop pacing, and more than anything, he wanted to stop and breathe. But, this wasn't practice, and he couldn't ask to stop. If they did, the unknown danger his mother called "the bounty hunter" would kill them both.

He was a bit confused when his mother slowed herself down and ran beside him, no longer taking the lead.

"Tai, listen to me," she said sternly. "There will be a small path up ahead soon, to the left. Make your way down there, and I'll meet you at the first clearing, alright?"

As much as he wanted to tell her that he wanted to go with her, like he always had, the pain in his chest wouldn't let him make the words. He nodded his head solemnly in agreement.

His mother nodded back. "Good, now go!" she ordered.

Tai could see the byway up ahead, and with one more nod, he scrambled around the sharp turn, taking the path as he had been told. Immediately, he could see a fallen tree on the path, and he lept over it and stopped. He sat against the fallen trunk, trying to slow his rapid breathing. Just sitting still for the first time in what felt like years was bliss, putting his hand over his chest to feel both breath and pulse slow. Then, Tai had an idea.

It was stupid really. But just once, he wanted to catch a glimpse of his ever present pursuer. He peeked his head over the rather large log, looking at the main path. He hadn't heard it run past, so it had to show up eventually.

While Tai wasn't the most patient of pokemon, the pure adrenaline rush kept him nailed in place. It was if he couldn't move, even if he wanted to. He tapped his claws against the wood impatiently, waiting for something to happen.

He heard it before he saw it. The faint sound of rustling grass and leaves. When the pursuer came into his line of sight, he immediately ducked down. His heart skipped at least three beats in a row, and if he wasn't holding his breath, he would probably have been hyperventilating. All he had got to see of it was a blur of white and black, but he was quite satisfied with just that. He listened as the pursuers rapid footsteps faded away...

After Tai calmed himself, he rose to his feet and made his way down the small side path. As he walked, he noticed an odd silence, which was out of character of the pokemon that lived here. Normally there would be smaller pokemon out scavenging for food, or pidgey and pidove talking throughout the treetops, but now... there was nothing. Just the sound of wind blowing through the trees. It was as if they could sense the danger.

While the silence was a nice change, it was unnerving. So, despite his sore feet, he picked up his pace, hoping to see his mother again soon.

Soon, the path ended, and in front of Tai was a small clearing, smaller than he expected. Towering trees surround it, covering the entirety of the mossy patch in shade. Tai looked over the area again and again looking for any signs of his mother... Nothing.

A clawed hand suddenly grabbed Tai, wrapped around his mouth. Before he could react, it began pulling him back into the dark treeline. He tried desperately to pull it away, or claw at the hand, but to no avail.

Suddenly, it pulled him downwards into a hole, and Tai found himself laying on his back, pressed against the familiar black fur of a zoroark. His mother.

She slowly moved her claw away from his mouth, and-

"MOM! I-" Tai burst out, and the zoroarks hand slapped back over his mouth. She moved the sneasel off of her, and put her finger up to her snout with a "shush" sound. Once Tai nodded, she moved her claw off his mouth again.

The two turned themselves back toward to tunnel entrance and peered out the opening. Four black claws came into view, and Tai watched as his mother's ears went from being on high alert to being pressed down against her head in fear.

"Damn it Arceus," the creature muttered. "Of course she would hide. Her and that brat are certainly determined to stay alive... but don't you worry. I know they're here, and I'll find 'em." The beast started to pace around the mossy clearing, searching. Scanning. He could have sworn the claws had stopped moving while they faced the hole, but it made no moves against them.

On the other side of the clearing, another zoroark suddenly sprung up, as if from nowhere. Tai knew immediately that it was one of his mother's illusions, thanks to the subtle lack of detail. It immediately ran, but the pursuer... didn't. It seemed to turn away from it for a single, terrifying moment, then... casually walked after it, as if in no hurry at all.

Tai found it very odd, and once the footsteps had faded, he tried climbing out of the hole. His mother gripped his arm, stopping him. It was clear they weren't going anywhere until she was sure it was safe.

Tai grew bored of the confined space very quickly, and became fidgety. He started pulling at loose roots, playing with a twig he found, trying to learn dig, just about anything to keep him entertained. A while later, he tried poking his mother's arm. No response. He tried again, a bit more forceful. Again, nothing. As he was about to try a third time, he felt a forceful poke on the nose. When his mother looked back at him with a sly smile, he poked her back in the snout. From there, war broke out.

After much poking, prodding, and at one point tickling, Tai's mom made a small head motion, signaling that it was alright to leave. Tai immediately scampered out of the burrow, happy to free once more. He looked back and watched his mother pull herself out, and noticed long claw marks running down her forearm.

"Um, mom?" he whispered. "What happened? To your arm?"

His mom spoke louder than expected. "Oh?" she said, looking at her arm. "Oh, yeah. You scratched me up pretty bad when I grabbed you," she said calmly.

"I did that?!" he exclaimed. "But... why did grab me from behind in the first place?"

"Well, I was afraid that if didn't cover your mouth-" she said, walking over and patting him on the back. -"you would have screamed."

Tai pretended that he was offended by her statement. "I would not!" he said, laughing a bit. But then he noticed his mother had stopped moving, and was looking up with a look of dread. Following her gaze, he saw what she was afraid of. On a branch halfway up the tree in front of them, he saw a weavile.

"Well, well, well. Long time no see, ay, Midnight?" he asked.

"Tai, I want you to run. Head west, there's a town there. Stay there, I'll come and get you. Don't look back," Midnight ordered, never looking away from the weavile.

"Jeez, Midnight. Why you gotta make this so difficult? Just give me the boy, and no one gets hurt," the weavile said calmly.

"Over my. Dead. Body," she responded.

Tai took off as fast as he could, his claws tearing the moss from the earth, not looking back this time. The last thing he heard of the two was the sound of ice shattering as it crashed into the ground. He raced onward, weaving through the trees and headed west, guided by the sun. He didn't know where exactly he was heading, but he distinctly remembered his mother's words.

"Don't look back." 

* * *

**After much procrastination, Chapter 1 is finished! I put a lot into this story, and now it can finally begin. I would like to thank all my supporters, the ones who sent in there characters to be in the story, and the PMD: Summit Climbers forum for pushing me to get this out. Updates will be as weekly as possible starting today. And PLEASE, leave a review! Whether you liked it or not! I need all the criticism I can get ^^;**

 **Please, enjoy PMD: Welcome to Scolipede Guild!**


	2. Chapter 2

"I said no, Lucky," Scolipede said sternly. He glared down at the blue lion cub pokemon before him as he continued his paperwork, writing with the appendages on his neck. The shinx, in turn, gave an annoyed look back.

"Scolipede, if you would just give me a chance, I could prove that I can do this!" the shinx argued.

"A chance to do what?" Scolipede asked. "Waltz into a mystery dungeon alone, get lost and never be seen again?" Scolipedes tone hadn't change from the flat, expressionless way it normally was, but Lucky could feel the guild masters rage radiate off of him like heat off a fire type.

"Who said I had to go alone? Blair runs solo, I can go with her! Or another team!" he suggested, a bit more cheery.

"Let's face facts Lucky. If one of the other members went with you, they'd end up doing all the work. And if you went with them, they might not be able to protect you. So the answer is no," Scolipede explained.

Lucky ears drooped, and he looked at the floor and sighed. He knew that Scolipede was right, and that just upset him even more. Scolipede could clearly tell how disappointed the shinx was, and with a sigh, he continued.

"But," he started. Just the word made Lucky perk up a bit. "I do have arrangements made to get you a partner sometime soon. So I just need to ask you to be a bit more patient," he calmly stated.

"Yeah, alright..." he whispered. "I... guess I better go do my job now, huh?"

Scolipede just gave him a smile and a nod, and returned to his work. Lucky took his leave and exited the room.

As he closed the door behind him, he felt like beating his head off a wall. It was official now, there was no way he was going on a mission any time soon. He peeked around the counter, and was relieved to find that the guild hall was empty. He hated when the guild members saw him upset. They had a tendency to baby him, trying to "cheer him up." The last thing he wanted was more pity.

After weaving through the forest of chair and table legs that cluttered the lobby, he looked up at the mission board at the other side of the room. As he had expected, various papers littered the board, each with missions such as the typical escort, retrieve, trade, and others. However, Lucky's eyes quickly met with a mission near the top of the board, a bounty mission with a picture of a weavile.

"Vladimir... leader of the outlaws..." he thought out loud. While he was preoccupied looking over the description, he failed to notice a tall pokemon approaching from behind.

"Hey Lucky!" it said, patting him on the back. Instead of a chill, a strong electric shock climbed up his spine, and the other pokemon quickly pulled their hand away. Lucky turned his head to look at them, and was greeted to a gardevoir, holding their singed hand.

"Oh, Yumi!" he said, surprised. He honestly thought he was alone. "Sorry about that. You snuck up on me..."

"No no, it's alright," Yumi said, sucking on a burnt finger. When they took their finger out their mouth, they started shaking it, as if to shake the pain off. "Sorry for sneaking up on you. So, how did it go with the guild leader?"

"Same as the last time..." Lucky answered, trailing off.

"Well, Scolipede probably has his reasons," they reminded him, bending down to Lucky's height.

"As always... I guess I'll have to wait some more..." he said, frustrated.

"Yeah, but hey, at least you get to go eventually," Yumi said.

Just then, there was some unintelligible yelling, and an ampharos barged in through the front doors.

"Hey Yumi! Would you hurry up in-" he stopped yelling, noticing the gardevoir to his far left. "Yeah, we gotta go do that WORK thing?" he scolded.

"Yep, coming Mike!" they yelled back. "Well, gotta go! Wish me luck!" they told the shinx in front of her. They patted Lucky on the head (despite knowing he hated that), and took off out the batwing doors to join their partner.

Lucky sat in the comfortable silence for a while, contemplating if he should take this time to read, before any of the teams got back. But then he remembered that he had patrol, and he followed Mike and Yumi out.

As he pushed the doors open, a familiar sea breeze blew by. The guild sat at the end of town, closest to the ocean, and he could see many buildings lining the street. It was a small town, consisting only two cobblestone streets, with a quaint little stone fountain where the two met. Despite it's size, the town had everything a guild town needed. There were shops, a storage and bank, even a move tutor.

Lucky only gave the view a passing glance. It was nothing new, as he had lived in this town for as long as he could remember. He leapt down the short wooden staircase, then made his way into town.

All seemed normal, with pokemon walking around and conversing, merchants buying and selling goods, and the like. At one point he heard a deino call out to him from across the street. Lucky didn't respond. The dieno had promised that the day Lucky officially got into the guild, his goods would be half off for him. Today wasn't that day though, and Lucky took the left street out of the town.

Scolipede's just never going let me go, is he? Lucky thought to himself. As he thought, we walked along a simple dirt trail through a large grassy field, cut through the rolling hills that made up the landscape. I've never read a rule saying you need a partner to start. Why doesn't he trust me? He thought again.

It was times like this that Lucky would climb up one of the hills and stare out into the ocean. The hills were rather small, so it wasn't all that hard to reach the top and look out to the north, the deep blue of the sea clear to see. The effect was almost hypnotic on the young shinx. He could stare out into the sea for hours, lost in his own thoughts.

Scolipede's probably just worried, he reasoned. Just looking out for me...

Suddenly, a noise from the not-to-far off forest made his ear unintentionally twitch, and snapped him out of his trance. Curiosity lead the way, and he walked down the hill to the edge of the forest. The sound of twigs breaking and leaves being crushed told him that it was in a hurry, and it was getting louder. Closer. He was supposed to run back to the guild to tell someone when something like this happen (which was almost never), but there was no way he was doing that. Whatever this was, he was going to stand and face it, friend or foe.

Tai felt as if he had been running for hours. His feet and paws ached each time they hit the ground, but he knew he couldn't stop. As much as he wanted to, his mother had told him to keep going until he reached town. Problem was, he didn't know how far town was! His lungs felt like they were going to burst out of his chest, and his breaths had become a wheeze.

But there was hope now, as he could see the end of the forest now. But also at the end of the forest, he could see some kind of pokemon. Like a litleo, but... blue? He squinted to see what the pokemon was, and soon realised just how quickly he was approaching. He tried desperately to slow himself down, but collision seem inevitable.

Lucky was not about to be rammed so easily, however. He had seen this other pokemon coming, and just as it seemed the shinx and sliding sneasel were about to hit, Lucky dodged out of the way, leaving his back paw behind to trip the dark type.

It worked flawlessly, and Tai landed face-first into the grassy earth. He lifted his head back up, only to have it forced back down before he had a chance to breath.

Lucky looked down at the dark type with glee. "Ah... ha... haha! I-I caught you, Vladimir! " he exclaimed. If he wasn't pinning Tai down, he would have jumped for joy.

Tai was very confused at the remark. He lifted his head to try and speak, but Lucky pushed his head back down.

"Save it, weavile! After I bring you in, there's no way that Scolipede can say no! Not after I bring in the outlaw leader!" he said. A few sparks leapt from Lucky's claws, stinging Tai's back ever so slightly.

Questions raced through Tai's mind. Who's Vladimir? The weavile I saw earlier? Why would this pokemon be looking for him? When he finally realized the shinx wasn't holding his head down, he spit out a mouthful of grass and spoke.

"Hey, listen! I'm not Vladimir, I don't lead anyone, and I'm not even a weavile!" he yelled. "So could'ja get off?"

Lucky was taken aback by the statement, but then pushed Tai down again again. "How do I know you're not lying? Dark types do that!" he said accusingly.

Tai, again, lifted his head up. "'Cause I'm a sneasel!" he stated crossly. "Weaviles have that frill thing on their head. I don't."

The shinx stopped and thought back on the picture of Vladimir, and remembered that it did, indeed, have a frill. He looked down at the sneasel and found that he, in fact, did not have a frill. He had made a mistake.

He was shocked by his own carelessness. Immediately, he started to climb off of Tai's back. "I… I'm sorry…" he mumbled.

Tai had just started to get up when a voice rang out from the forest. A now familiar voice to Tai.

"Don't bother going any farther, _Tai_. You're coming with me." From the forest shade stepped a white foot, with three black claws. When the speaker fully emerged, Lucky recognised it as an absol. Tai recognised that it as the black-clawed bounty hunter.

They had returned.

* * *

 **Sorry for the slight delay, I *insert personal problems you don't care about*. I don't really like this chapter 100%, but I don't know how to fix it so... here it is! And that's for all this amazing initial support, I really love it guys.**

 **Oh, and Mike and Yumi belong to BlackGeneralNocturna, while the so far unnamed absol belongs to St. Elmo's fire, submitted through my closed SYOC. So special thanks to them. I hope to hear from you guys soon, and I'll post chapter 3 in a week-ish. See ya!**


	3. Chapter 3

"W-what do you you want from me!?" Tai shouted at the absol, stuttering a bit. The absol gave no response, and took a single slow step forward. Out of the shadows and in the sunlight, it's black claws, face and horn only looked darker.

"Why are you always chasing us?" he yelled again. Tai honestly didn't expect a response that time either, but the absol spoke.

"It doesn't matter. You will come with me... or you will die," they said flatly. They took another step forward. "Give up or I'll take you in pieces."

Before now, Lucky had been too dumbstruck to speak. The absol's threat had snapped him out of it, and he boldly put a paw protectively in front of Tai. "Oh no you won't," Lucky said. "Not while I'm around."

The absol showed no sign of alarm. "You? You wish to fight me?" they deadpanned. Their face then took on a twisted, disturbed grin. "Good. It's been awhile since my last bloodbath."

In a flash, the absol was in the air and falling upon the two with an impossibly dark horn. Lucky violently shoved Tai out of the way, with barely enough time to avoid the Night Slash himself.

Lucky quickly rebounded, and his body glowing an electric yellow as he slammed himself against the bounty hunter. Tai caught on to his plan right away, and was on his feet and swiping his claws in an instant.

The absol did not flinch in the slightest, as if they hadn't felt anything at all. Lucky wore a face of near horror, seeing as his attack went unregistered against the dark type. The absol seemed to have more interest in Tai though, as the sneasel dashed back out of range.

As hard as he tried, his running from before could still be felt in his limbs, and he completely failed to outrun the bounty hunter once they started their pursuit. Tai desperately put his claws up protectively in front of him, trying to block the attack that was coming, but never got the chance.

The absol ran straight past the ice type, then turned around and slashed at him before he had a chance to turn around. The attack was a direct Slash to Tai's back, and it cut deep. The pain was overwhelming, and he fell to all fours with the sheer impact. He wanted to get up and away from the absol, but with the pain pulsating from his back, just trying to keep breathing became his priority.

Suddenly, three sharp claws drove into his shoulder, shoving him back into the oh-so-familiar ground. And somewhere between the inability to breathe and what was probably his loss of blood, his consciousness slipped away...

* * *

The absol stood over the sneasel, looking down at the wound they had inflicted and the red that stained the fur of their white paw, smiling. They looked as if they were about to finish him off, but a flash of light and a Shock Wave coursing through them reminded them of the shinx.

Lucky watched as the bounty hunters head slowly raised to look at him, blood glistening of their bladed horn. A small part of him regretted doing that.

The absol dashed toward their new target, horn glowing a pink color before they swing their head and fired two Psycho Cuts. Lucky was ready for the first one, and nimbly dodged out if the attacks path. However, it put him in the direct path of the second psychic blade.

Lucky flew back a few feet from the sheer impact. The cut wasn't deep, it had cut clear across his entire chest, spreading the pain into his shoulders. He tried to stand, but failed, legs buckling due to the pain. The absol's run had turned into a walk, nearing him at a speed that could only be described as torturous.

"Poor little shinx..." they cooed. "Tried to be brave. And now they will die."

The dark type towered over Lucky now, smiling down at him as he looked back, horrified and panicked. When the absol raised their blade however, an explosion of flame struck their backside and knocked them over, instantly singing their white fur and the grass below them.

For the first time Lucky had seen, the bounty hunters face changed into something other than their crooked smile. A face of pure hatred and rage.

"But of course, the universe isn't about to let you die," they said with clenched teeth, and both the absol and Lucky looked to see what had attacked.

Lucky's eye nearly lit up with joy, looking up the hill, for on top were three figures he knew well. A zangoose, a mawile, an ironically enough, another absol, wearing a red, yellow and orange scarf respectively. The three spoke to each other for only second before charging down the hill.

"Team Starburst!" Lucky exclaimed in a whisper. It was loud enough for the bounty hunter to hear however, and they turned back to him to finish what they started.

Just as they were about to bring their blade down on the shinx again, team Starburst's zangoose tackled them to the ground. Both rolled from the disorganized tackle, but on their feet only a second later.

"So damn CLOSE!" they growled, and with no reaction from the zangoose, the two began their attack on one another. The two seemed very evenly matched, with neither one landing any hits. Claws and blade smashed and blocked each other, over and over, like crossed swords wielded by skilled swordsman.

While the absol and zangoose clashed against one another, the other two scarf wearing pokemon rush to help Tai and Lucky. Sneaking around the battle, the scarfed absol grabbed Lucky by the scruff of his neck.

"Hey, what the- Sol, put me down!" Lucky demanded, very upset that he was being carried like a lost litten.

"Oh, becwase you clwarwy had tings under contwoll," Sol retorted, barely able to speak through Lucky's fur. Lucky didn't have a comeback for that.

Sol had carried Lucky up the hill, a good way away from danger, he put Lucky down. "We're both getting too old for this," Sol groaned, running back to help. "Don't go anywhere!"

Not like I can... Lucky reminded himself. When he looked down at his chest, he could could see small amount of his own blood slowly leaking from the cut, turning his blue fur red and sticky. He closed his eyes tight, as remembering the wound had made him focus on the pain pulsing from his chest and shoulders. Trying to take his mind of his own pain, he looked over to the sneasel he had met, who was only a few feet away.

What he hadn't noticed, however, was the mawile from team Starburst kneeling next to him. He was unconscious, so the mawile had sat him as she fumbled with the bandages as she pulled them from her bag, loosely wrapping them around her "patient."

* * *

Tai, in his unconscious state, began to hear voices. "Abbigail, you're... doing that... wrong," he heard one say between breaths. It was the voice of the blue pokemon he met (i.e. the one that made him eat dirt).

You sure?" said another. "I'm... kinda sure I got this." It was then he slowly began to feel again. The feeling of something long and thin loosely coiled around him, and a hand, not a claw, on his back, holding him up.

Wait, Lucky, are you oka- Oops!" the unknown voice continued, but suddenly felt the hand slip. He fell, and when he hit the ground, he remembered why he blacked out.

Tai cried out as he hit the ground, the pain resurrected in his back waking him up instantly. He rolled over as quickly as possible to remove the contact between the poorly bandaged wound and the earth.

"He's not dead!" Abbigail cheered. "Well, now that you're up, I've gotta help ol' Gus out. Okay?Okayseeyabye!" she blurted out, then rushed down to the battle.

"Abbigail..." he groaned. The shinx examined Tai's wrappings, silently noting everything she had done wrong. "Here, hand me the end of that bandage,"

"No no... I'm fine." Tai insisted. His back still hurt didn't really want anymore help, and he wasn't completely sure if he could trust this pokemon.

Lucky walked over and lightly tapped Tai on the back, and as expected, Tai jumped up from where he was sitting with a loud "ak."

"Clearly," Lucky said. Tai sat down and made a pouty face as Lucky grabbed the wrapping. "Now hold still."

"Would you just hold still!" Gus, the zangoose, screamed. Where they were once evenly matched, now the bounty hunter seemed to have figured their opponent out, and nimbly dodged or blocked all of his advances. Sol had tried firing more special attacks, but the other absol had yet to be hit. They jumped at Gus with another Night Slash, which he barely blocked and knocked aside. He stabbed forward with his claws, barely hitting his mark and opening up a fresh cut on the absol's face. But, as before, they didn't flinch. It was if they didn't feel it.

The bounty hunter whipped their head back at Gus, and their blade struck solidly against the zangoose's stomach. He had tried to dodge, but all that did was send him reeling backwards. What the bounty hunter wasn't expecting, however, was someone to take his place.

It didn't matter to them. Simply another attack to dodge. Abbigail rushed at the dark type, but they were completely prepared to jump aside and counter-attack. But an icy blast suddenly blasted the ground by their front feet, freezing them in place. They had forgotten the other absol.

Frantically, they tried to free themselves, but having neither the strength or time, they failed. With a running start and a spin, the massive jaws attached to Abbigail's head smashed against the side of her foe's face, with enough force to send them flying and freeing their legs from the ice.

Shards of ice dropped down all around the absol as they slowly rose back up to their feet. They feel again, but persisted.

"Just give up now and we won't have to wail you anymore, alright," Gus said. Amidst the confusion, he had gotten back on his feet, a long but shallow wound across his chest.

There was no immediate response. They got to their feet, a short distance away, face void of emotion.

"Never."

A whip of their head, a two pink blades of psychic energy were launch at the team. Instinctively, Sol jumped in the way, taking both blades without any kind of reaction or impact. Seeing their attack fade, the attacker frowned.

"All right then, we're going to have to use our TEAM ATTACK!" Abbigail cried out. Both her team and the foe gave her an odd look. "You know, the really cool thing?" she explained.

The was a collective "ah..." amongst the team, and Gus charged the absol. Their answer was to rush at him, and once again, claws and horns meet, blocking each other. Abbigail made yet another predictable approach, and the bounty hunter dodged out of their way. Well tried to at least.

Gus had a tight grip on the absol's horn. The absol fought and pulled for the horn back, but when Gus let go, the mawiles jaws snapped like a bear trap over the absol's head. Again, they fought and slashed to escape, but with a whip of her head, Abbigail threw her captive. And once again, they had no time to prepare for the next attack in the endless assault.

A devastating Thunderbolt flew from one absol's horn to another, striking them with the burning pain of lightning and filling the air with fizzes and pops.

Temporarily paralysed as electricity flowed through them, the dark type could do nothing to stop the claws of the Zangoose that approached.

"Now STAY DOWN!" he demanded, crossing his claws in and X shaped attacked. With no more words, the cut, bleeding, burnt, frozen, bruised and wet finally collapsed.

"Teamwork, heck ya!" Abbigail announced, hands in the air.

"Hey... I took all the hits..." Gus complained.

"But you did get the finishing blow," Sol reminded him.

"I guess that's true," said Gus. "Abbigail, are the kids alright?"

"Yep, I'm fine!" Abbigail chimed. There was a silence suddenly, as Sol and Gus stared hard at the mawile.

"Oh, you mean Lucky and the sneasel..." she figured out. "Well, they should be fine. Let's check on 'em."

Gus hardly trusted Abbigail with the bag in the first place, (but gave it to her as she was the only one with opposable thumbs,) and he made a mad dash to Lucky and the sneasel.

"Yay, more running," Sol groaned sarcastically, and him and Abbigail ran after him.

* * *

Tai and Lucky, meanwhile, were sitting starstruck. Both were amazed by the skill and/or raw strength team starburst had demonstrated. Tai was especially shocked, having watched as they defeated in battle something he had run from all his life.

"You two alright?" Gus asked, walking up them.

"Better than alright! You guys were amazi- oww..." Lucky exclaimed, but when he got up, the pain came back.

"You... actually fought them... and won..." Tai said in disbelief.

"Yeah..." Gus said, scratching his chin. "Helping other pokemon out is kinda in our job description. And, just this once, free of charge!" he joked.

Tai tried to get up, but a wave of pain shot through his back. He sat back down beside Lucky.

"Yeah, it takes a while for the oran berries to kick in sometimes," Gus remarked. His answer was a confused stare from both Tai and Lucky.

Gus got what they meant. "That is, if Abbigail gave you both oran berries..." he said scornfully, leering at the mawile.

She had just caught up to her team mate, but she heard what he said. She suddenly seemed a lot more nervous.

"Umm... Oh look, oran berries," she said with faked glee, pulling two berries out of the bag at her side. She tossed a berry to each of the wounded pokemon, which Gus and Tai caught. Lucky... didn't, and it hit him squarely on the head.

"Sorry Lucky..." Abbigail said. Lucky gave her a harsh look, the three broke the hard skin of the oran berries open started eating anyway.

Sol had finally reach the others, having walked half the way. "Don't you think we should have grabbed that absol before walking all the way over here?" Sol groaned.

"Why didn't you?" Gus asked, still chewing on a piece of his berry.

"Gus, I can hardly pick myself up off the ground some days," Sol remarked.

"Good point," responded Gus. "So, I'll go back and grab them-"

Abbigail interrupted him. "Ah, no you can't. He's gone!" Abbigail stated, shocked.

"What!?" It was Tai this time that got up. The oran berry was already taking effect, and he was able to stand again. "They're gone!?"

Gus let out a loan sigh. "Well, at least we don't have to fill out any reports?" he suggested with a shrug.

"But... they're out there... with my mom..." Tai said quietly. He looked down at the grass below him, troubled thoughts of his mother rushing through his mind. In the midst of all the chaos, he hadn't realise his mother still hadn't come out of the forest. Now the fact was looking him dead in the face. And the bounty hunter... and that weavile... were in there with her.

Gus put his claw on the young sneasel's shoulder. "Listen kid. They might be in the forest with your mum, but we did a serious number on 'em. She'll be okay," he assured Tai.

"But wait... Can't you just go back to your mom now that that absol isn't a threat?" Lucky inquired.

Tai put his head down again. "No, I can't. We were attacked by a weavile too, and she fought and told me to run. I'n supposed to find some kind of town to stay in until she comes to get me... but I don't know where that is..." he explained.

"Well, there just so happens to be a town right across these hills. We can take you if you-" Gus started to say, but was cut off.

"Really? There is?" Tai said, suddenly excited.

Gus sighed. "Yeah, there is. You want to come with us?" he offered. Forgetting all previous trust issues, Tai nodded. The zangoose let out a yawn, then turned and motioned everyone to follow him with his claw. "Alright then gang... let's head home!"

As Tai made his way up the hill with the other pokemon, he could just barely see the small town, as another hill was in the way. Regardless, he was greatly relieved. The bounty hunter was no longer a problem and he would soon be right where his mother was coming to pick him up. Soon, they would be together again.

"Sure was a shame that absol got away," Sol commented, breaking the silence. "She was actually quite cute..."

Abbigail burst out laughing. "Sol! Since when were you into guys!?" she exclaimed, laughing so hard she was hardly breathing.

"Ahem. She was in fact, quite female," Sol snarked, unamused.

"Umm, no he wasn't!" Abbigail snapped, no longer laughing.

"I am an absol, Abbigail. I should know!"

"Well, I'm a female, so if he was a girl, I would have noticed."

"Well I'm a male, and she was a male, I would have noticed!"

And so Sol and Abbigail bickered like children all the way into the town.

* * *

 **Yay! New characters, the downfall of the bounty hunter, and all that other good stuff! Hope it was worth the wait!**

 **Again, personal life was the main reason for the delay, but also because this chapter is way longer then the first two, just like you guys asked! Next chapter we get to see the guild, and all that good stuff.**

 **Tell me what you thought in a review! I can't quite think of what else to say, so... see you in the next one!**


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